In a time not so far from ours… in a land surrounded by fog and shadows lies a city, once vibrant, loud and free, now in the midst of an ever-growing swamp – a city sick with despair. Six young people are chosen for a mission beyond the city limits: In the moor they meet adventurous characters, a gambling oracle, a decapitating gut feeling, the oldest mushroom in the world, in the tribunal they meet judge Mother Nature…
Can they find the source of despair and the antidote? An epic quest for hope in dark times begins…
Will they experience disappointment? Definitely.
Can they do it alone? Of course not.
Do they need to network? Of course.
Will they give up? Absolutely not.
The artistic team of the Junge NKO networks – mushroom mycelium-like – beyond fiction into real life and creates a musical theatre with young performers and professional singers. The idea of networking extends to the play’s stage design, which consists largely of mushroom mycelium. The experimental building material is growing in the laboratories of the TU Berlin towards our premiere. Thermally insulating, lightweight, water-repellent and compostable – a material for a better future?
The Neukölln Opera is collaborating with biotechnologist Prof. Vera Meyer and her scientific and student teams at the TU Berlin and the PILZ KUNST LABORATORY of the MITKUNSTZENTRALE from the House of Materialisation. In addition, students from the interdisciplinary, research-oriented Master’s programme Design and Computation at TU Berlin and UdK Berlin under the direction of Prof. Albert Lang will accompany the artistic research with the mushroom materials.
MUSIC Yuval Halpern TEXT Vera Schindler DIRECTION Bjørn de Wildt STAGE DESIGN Charlotte Morache COSTUME DESIGN Gwendolyn Noltes PRODUCTION MANAGER Sandra M. Heinzelmann
WITH
Vivian Yau, Charlotte Morache, Chantale Nurse, Corinna Buchholz, Markus Teichert, Johanna Lanzky, Helena Marte, Lena Wetzel, Nele Langner, Kamil Saad Ahmad, Viktor A. Voigt and the musicians Doron Avraham Segal (Keyboard/Synths), Omri Abramov (EWI/Sax/Flute), Ori Davidson (E-Bass), Vid Jamnik (Vibraphone/Percussion)
Every Saturday with English surtitles for smartphones via Opera Access